


Queen of Ash

by huntress-of-velaris (shadowhuntress)



Category: MAAS Sarah J. - Works, Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Angst, Ficlet, Gen, Kingdom of Ash Spoilers, kingdom of ash preview quotes, koa spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 11:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16240841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowhuntress/pseuds/huntress-of-velaris
Summary: “You know how to make this end, Aelin,” Maeve said. “Swear the blood oath to me, and I will free you of your chains.”





	Queen of Ash

**Author's Note:**

> Suggested Listening: “Forgive Me” from Game of Thrones season five soundtrack by Ramin Djawadi.
> 
> Bolded text is from one of the official KOA quotes released by Bloomsbury.

Screams resounded throughout the circular altar room of the river temple before being swallowed by the cacophonous river outside. In the center of the room, the young queen of Terrasen sagged against her chains, panting. She could feel the blood seeping down her mangled arms from the new cuts Cairn had bestowed upon her. His blade had sunk down to the bone this time. She forced herself not to look at it, lest she vomit up the measly remnants of the gruel that bastard had force-fed her hours before. Honestly, it was a miracle she hadn’t thrown it right up as he’d fed it to her. Given the taste and texture of the watery slop—the only meals she’d been permitted since being brought here—Aelin was truly beginning to believe starvation might be the kinder option.

A long-suffering sigh came from the dais at the southern end of the altar room. 

“Enough, Cairn. I grow tired of this particular exercise,” said Queen Maeve, her voice dripping with boredom. 

Aelin heard Cairn retreat a few steps, and she clenched her teeth to hold in her groans as her arms throbbed with each pulse of blood through her veins. 

Maeve clicked her tongue. “Do you not grow tired of it also, dear niece?” 

Aelin ignored her and focused on her breathing; it helped distract her from the pain…at least that’s what she kept trying to convince herself.

“You know how to make this end, Aelin,” Maeve said. “Swear the blood oath to me, and I will free you of your chains.”

Aelin laughed once, a low sound devoid of any humor. _Free you of your chains._ Her physical chains, perhaps, but what of the invisible ones Maeve would wrap so tightly around her mind, her soul, that she’d have no hope of escape? “I’d rather die.”

Maeve’s eyes glinted, and the corner of her mouth tilted upward in the barest hint of a smile. “That’s what I thought you’d say. Bravery makes fools of humans—and Fae.” She paused. “You know, I’ve offered the choice to many before you: swear the blood oath or die. Only a few chose death. 

“But giving you that choice would be too easy. As you’ve said yourself, you would choose death, unequivocally. You do not fear it. In fact, I think in this moment, you desire it above all else. And what a fool I’d be to give you what you desire.”

The queen cocked her head to the side and ran a long, plum-lacquered nail against the stone arm of the throne.

“No,” she mused. “I will not offer you a choice between servitude and death. Instead, you may choose to surrender to me … or spend your immortal life in torment.”

Aelin’s breathing faltered, and her blood turned to ice in her veins. An eternity of torture at Cairn’s hand. An unceasing cycle of whippings, beatings … worse. She began to shake.

Maeve smiled, sensing Aelin’s fear. “I assure you I have no shortage of followers eager to do my bidding. And if Cairn ever grows tired of his work—”

A snort sounded from somewhere behind Aelin. Maeve’s eyes flickered to Aelin’s torturer in amusement.

“Unlikely, I’ll admit. But if he does, there are plenty of others who would gladly pick up the task of demonstrating to a spoiled, half-breed princess just where her true place is.”

Aelin said nothing.

“So, darling niece, what say you now?”

And though Aelin’s entire body trembled with fear and dread of the long, long days to come, she knew her answer before Maeve had finished speaking. Had known before she’d even asked the question.

**She’d never let them break her. Never swear that that blood oath. For Terrasen, for her people, whom she had left to endure their own torment for ten long years. She owed them this much.**

But, of course, it was not just for Terrasen that she would not yield. The names of her beloved surfaced in her mind. _Rowan. Aedion. Lysandra. Evangeline_. It was for them, too, that she could not, _would_ not give in—would always keep fighting, to whatever end.

Aelin Ashryver Galathynius was not afraid as she lifted her head, looked Maeve in the eye, and said, “Burn in hell, Aunt.”

She had only a brief moment of satisfaction as the smug twist of the dark queen’s lips flattened into a thin line, the only sign of her wavering patience. Maeve rose smoothly from the throne, and Aelin forced herself to remain still as the Fae queen descended the dais and moved closer. When she stood before Aelin, she smiled broadly, revealing pointed canines.

“It is you who will burn, Aelin of the wildfire. One day, your fire will burn for me and wipe clean the human stain of this world. Remember this, niece: you are but a child in this world, and eternity is a concept you cannot yet begin to fathom. Eventually, Aelin Galathynius, you _will_ break.”

Aelin only glared up into those black eyes and did not falter as Maeve stroked a thumb down her bloodied cheek before turning away. The queen seemed to float across the temple floor, and as she stopped in one of the open spaces between the columns encircling the room, which allowed a view of the raging river surrounding them, she said over her shoulder, “Forty lashes, Cairn.”

Aelin closed her eyes.

* * *

Later, when Cairn had finished with her, when her back was once again nothing more than a slab of raw, bleeding meat, when she held onto consciousness by a thread, and the grating sound of the coffin lid being slid into place was like the screeching of a wyvern in her ears, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius, queen of ash and desolation and unending agony, sobbed for everything she had lost and all she had left to endure.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry not sorry!!!! :D This angsty little ficlet has been festering in the back of my mind for a while, and after writing out bits and pieces in my spare time, I finally decided to try to shape it into something tonight. I AM SUPER NERVOUS MAEVE IS GONNA FORCE THE BLOOD OATH ON AELIN SOMEHOW, Y’ALL. Whether it be by Valg possession or some other form of coercion. Guess we’ll find out soon.
> 
> I have a few other angst-ridden ficlets bouncing around in my head, so maybe I’ll post one or two sometime in the next couple weeks.


End file.
